March 2020 News Brief

On Saturday, March 14, the South Central Public Health District (SCPHD) confirmed the first case of COVID-19 in Blaine County. As you’ve no doubt seen in local media and heard across your networks, events and gatherings across the valley are being canceled and/or rescheduled in order to minimize exposure to and spread of this virus.

We at the Wood River Women’s Foundation are committed to the health and safety of our members as well as our entire community and support the containment efforts being taken. We, too, will be cancelling our gatherings through the end of April.

Ours is an amazing community and I know we will be diligent in our awareness, supportive of our neighbors in need, and wise in our actions. We will keep you updated as best possible during this unprecedented time.

With gratitude for our WRWF community,
Terri Bullock

The Idaho Community Foundation (ICF) has teamed with the Idaho Nonprofit Center to create a COVID-19 Response Fund for Idaho. This is a charitable fund that will provide grants to trusted organizations that will provide philanthropic support and services to low-income, vulnerable people and families.

This fund will provide immediate and long-term grants on a rolling basis. Please read more by clicking here.

Donate now to South Central Region (including Blaine County) by clicking here.

To stay on top of what’s happening in Blaine County, click here to link to the SCPHD.

Please follow CDC guidelines to protect yourself and stay healthy! Click here for their website.

The 2020 Grant Finalist Presentations were held on March 4, 2020 at the Community Library Lecture Hall in Ketchum. Ballot summaries, the nonprofit schedule and a link to the livestream video were sent to all members on March 2 ahead of the event. Ballots, titled WRWF 2020 Grant Ballot Information, were emailed after the meeting using Survey Monkey. Please check your junk or spam box if you did not receive one. The deadline for voting is March 31. Please remember to vote!

At the March 12 Education Forum attended by over 40 members and guests, Lukas Haynes, Executive Director of the David Rockefeller Fund, generously shared his incredible expertise on the topic of strategic philanthropy. Citing examples from his extensive experience, Mr. Haynes illustrated ways the WRWF might become more pro-active in grant-making, and more strategic in addressing the many challenges facing our valley.

Following his remarks, Lukas led a lively and informative discussion taking questions from members on ideas such as multi-year grants, invitations for proposals on issues we prioritize, awards for nonprofit operating expenses, grants that might leverage other grants and resources in an area of need, and grants that promote collaboration among nonprofits that are working with similar goals. While cautioning that changes should be made slowly, he encouraged us to continue asking ourselves these questions and left many of us feeling ready to explore innovations in order to maximize our considerable impact on our community.

Louisa Moats, Chair
Education Committee

In late February, thirteen WRWF members traveled to Seattle, Washington to attend the Catalist 2020 PowerUP Conference. WRWF was one of the largest groups to travel together. WRWF is an affiliate of Catalist (which has been re-named Philanos), a national network that serves to catalyze the movement of women-powered philanthropy by connecting women’s collective giving and grant-making organizations. Philanos affiliates represent more than 70 collective giving, grant-making groups in 28 states, the District of Columbia and Australia. Some of the main objectives of attending this conference were to be inspired, learn, and connect with other Philanos affiliates and to learn more about their organizations.

Over the two-day conference, attendees participated in breakout sessions and were treated to fabulous speakers during meals. Our President, Terri Bullock, was a co-presenter and delivered a session on “Employing Strategic Planning,” and WRWF Board member, Patti Zebrowski, was a co-presenter on a session entitled “The Varied Facets of Catalist Grantmaking.”

This conference gave our members an opportunity to interact with other affiliate members. Many discussions among the various member organizations gave way to new thoughts and ideas around membership, grant-making and community involvement.

The WRWF Finance Committee kindly reminds members to write checks out to the WRWF instead of the ICF. We also ask that you send checks directly to: WRWF – P.O. Box. 3686, Ketchum, ID 83340. Please inform your charitable trusts of the change of address.

A huge part of Rotarun’s future lies in our ability to complete our snowmaking and infrastructure projects. Through the amazing support of the Wood River Woman’s Foundation, the Nancy Eccles and Homer M. Hayward Foundation and many more supporters, we have been able to overcome the first critical phase of snowmaking—30 years in the making! The grant monies from the Wood River Women’s Foundation, helped with the initial engineering phase which was the beginning of what became a successful endeavor in securing the initial phase of snow-making capabilities at Rotarun Ski Area.

The Rotarun Ski Area has already had a profound impact on our community. Our “Little Mountain with a Big Heart” is making a difference. Rotarun offers priceless opportunities for our community at large. Thank you!

Cynthia Knight
Director of Development

About 75 members and their guests attended our annual Après Ski Tea on March 5, 2020. We would like to thank member, Jane Springman, for opening her beautiful home to this event. It was the perfect setting for our expanding group! Our guest speaker, Lisa Wild, Executive Director of Hospice & Palliative Care of The Wood River, thanked members for WRWF’s 2019 Grant, which provided funds for much needed repair to their building. She spoke about the positive impact the building repairs have had on staff and visitors. We want to thank members of the Membership Committee who worked so hard to make this event a wonderful success!
Director of Development

The Wood River Women’s Foundation is celebrating our fifteenth anniversary! To celebrate this special milestone, we are introducing a new logo, that we will be using throughout the year. We want to thank Laura Bernstein, graphic designer and daughter of WRWF member Gail Landis, for designing this new logo.

The Wood River Women’s Foundation started as an idea fifteen years ago by a group of like-minded women who came together in a living room to imagine how they could collectively give contributions to nonprofits within Blaine County. They believed that pooling their resources could make a significant impact on nonprofit organizations. Today, their imagination and belief has created an organization with a growing membership who continue to support community nonprofits. Let’s celebrate all that we’ve achieved! To that end, we are seeking photographs from the early days of the foundation. If you have any photos from the years 2005-2015, and are willing share, we would love to hear from you! Please contact Christina Bauer, WRWF Executive Assistant, at (208) 309-2530.

WRWF has a new way to help fund our foundation’s operating expenses. Through its program, AmazonSmile, Amazon donates .05% of eligible purchases to a selected charity. This allows you to donate automatically to the WRWF whenever you shop. To link Wood River Women’s Foundation AmazonSmile to your Amazon account, click here and get signed up. This simple adjustment to your Amazon account will not change anything about the way you currently shop or pay. Please note, you will need to use the smile.amazon.com website when you shop to generate donations to WRWF. We are currently in the process of creating and updating our profile on Amazon and ask your understanding as we work to correct the language and mission statement currently listed on the site.

Thank you for participating in this worthwhile new opportunity!

Welcome to our newest WRWF Members!

Diana Brambrink – Seattle, WA
Bobbi Jo Navarro – Ketchum, ID
Marnie Roozen – Ketchum, ID
Julie Sargent – Ketchum, ID
Francine Sokoloff – Ketchum, ID
Lisa Whorton – Ketchum, ID

WRWF volunteers are essential to achieving a key element of our mission—pooling our resources to make a significant positive change in our community. As we wrap up our 2019/2020 Grants Cycle, it is my honor to recognize all of the volunteers, our Grants ‘ambassadors’, who dedicated their time and treasure over the course of these past several months. Your selfless commitment speaks volumes to your passion for our cause.

From January through March, the work that goes into being a Grants volunteer included recruitment, training, meetings, site visits, presentations, and more meetings. This work is of critical benefit to the full membership so that we all have the opportunity to see, hear and read about presentations from the nonprofit applicants. It is through the commitment of these volunteers that we are informed and able to cast educated votes.

Before becoming President, I was privileged to volunteer on the Grants team for several years. In the beginning, I was new to Blaine County, and WRWF, and wanted to expand my knowledge of our mission and the community’s needs. It was enlightening to visit the nonprofit organizations, meet their leadership and staff, and really learn about their impacts in the community. This work also provided opportunities to build relationships with these nonprofits on a personal level which leads to further engagement by our dedicated members.

I want to thank each Grants volunteer from the bottom of my heart, and I hope to see many new volunteers during next year’s Grants cycle.

MEMBERS: Your greatest gift is the opportunity to cast your vote. Please remember that our voting deadline is March 31. The ballot has been sent to you and because we use Survey Monkey, the email with the link, titled WRWF 2020 Grant Ballot Information, may have landed in your junk or spam box. Please check there first, then contact our office if you need further assistance.

Until next month,
Terri Bullock